This evening, Swami was out by 4.00 p.m. He took a full
round and just like yesterday went into the interview room.
However, minutes later, He was out again and moving on His
chair along the middle Portico, He slowly emerged onto the
dais and sat down in the centre giving beautiful Darshan to
one and all. Vedam chanting was on in full swing. After
sitting for 10 minutes or so, He went out the other way
towards the interview room, but surprisingly, instead of
moving into the room, He asked the boys to take Him onto the
Ladies side.

It was a bonanza this evening for the lady devotees. He went
slowly, moving along the path on their side. As He moved
along, He talked to a few devotees and signaled to a number
of overseas lady devotees, asking them to go into the
interview room. Most of them were part of yesterday’s
singing group. This went on for quite some time and Swami
had taken a full round on the Ladies side coming back
towards the dais and then completing a circle by going
towards the interview room. He took all of them into the
interview room.

While those who went in would have been ecstatic, even those
who did not were overjoyed, for after such a long time, they
had a real close-up Darshan of our beloved Lord! Hence, it
turned out to be a win-win situation! Typical of everything
that He does! The lucky devotees were in for a real long
time and came out only at 5.15 p.m. Bhajans had already
started. Swami went into the interview room and sat for a
few Bhajans before He took Aarti at 5.30 p.m. He got into
the Porte and proceeded towards PC.

Let us wish all our Jewish brothers and sisters a very Happy
and Holy Hanukkah. Hanukkah as we know is the Festival of
Lights or the Festival of Dedication. The festival is
observed in Jewish homes by the kindling of lights on each
of the festival's eight nights, one on the first night, two
on the second night and so on. The word 'Hanukkah' means
"dedication." Spiritually, Hanukkah commemorates the Miracle
of the Oil. At the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem,
following the victory of the Maccabees over the Selucids,
there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the
eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the
oil burned for eight days - which was the length of time it
took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil.

This evening, Swami came out at 4.05 p.m. for Darshan. He
took a full round and went straight into the interview room.
The devotees from California and Hawaii were seated right in
front of the dais with several music instruments. We guessed
that there was going to be some Music Programme. This was
confirmed when we received booklets about the Music
Programme to be presented by the Sathya Sai Singers from
Southern California and Hawaii – titled “Life is a Song –
Sing it”.

At 4.15 p.m. the interview room door opened and Swami’s
chair came out. A few feet away, the chair stopped and Swami
stood up. With the help of brother Nitin, He started walking
towards the dais. Overjoyed, all the devotees started
clapping. He came to the centre of the dais and stood for a
while holding the railings. Then He sat down and signaled
for the programme to begin. At the outset a lady devotee
from Australia came forward and offered a card to Swami.
With Swami’s Blessings, she conducted a prayer song -
Shalom. The Hebrew word Shalom is understood around the
world to mean peace. But peace is only one small part of the
meaning of the word Shalom. A word study in the New King
James version for Shalom says: Completeness, wholeness,
health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility,
prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the
absence of agitation or discord.

It was a very melodious rendering. Subsequently, the lady
conductor for the rest of the songs got up and went to
Swami. She sought Bhagawan’s Blessings and commenced the
singing. Interestingly, the songs they sang were not the
usual Christmas Carols but they were a very beautiful
collection of prayers written by different people. Some of
them adored the almighty Lord while the others sang in
praise of Mother Earth with an appeal to save the planet
from the onslaught of the modern man.

They sang with all their heart for the next 45 minutes. The
music was very soothing and the lyrics were very meaningful
and pregnant with wisdom. It calmed our minds and lifted our
souls. Swami was very much involved in their singing. He
kept beat with His Hand and had a Blissful smile on His face
throughout. This filled our hearts with thrill and joy. At
5.00 p.m. the singing came to a close.

The lady conductor turned around, bowed to Swami and taking
a deep breath went to take her seat. One could witness how
involved she was in conducting the singing by her expression
of satisfaction and joy at the end. After she sat down on
her chair, Swami called her front and stood up Himself. Even
as He was standing, He rotated His right Hand and created a
chain for her. Our brothers next to Swami helped in
unhooking the chain and placing it around her neck and Swami
gave it the final tug to put it in place! The lady was
overjoyed and with a beaming smile retreated to her seat.

Swami then asked them to sing Bhajans. They started with
some English Bhajans and then went on to sing our normal
Hindi / Sanskrit Bhajans rendering the lyrics so well that
one could hardly make out that they were overseas devotees
singing our Bhajans. In the course of their singing, Swami
went inside the interview room and came out. Then He sat
outside but now more towards the Primary School children. He
kept beat with His Hand and at times was lost in Bliss with
His eyes closed and face radiating with an inexplicably
peaceful smile! This sent a powerful vibration across the
Hall merging all of us in His eternal joy and Bliss! The
clapping became louder, the singing more powerful and all
this led us to a different world altogether!

All good things have to come to an end. At 6.00 p.m. after
about an hour of Bhajan singing, which included Hindi,
Sanskrit and even English Bhajans, Swami took Aarti and
retired for the day.